Contest Time!

28102010

Ever had a family member, neighbor, or friend offer “helpful” home remedies as you lay helpless with flu or a cold? We’ve heard some weird ones in our time (smell a skunk for combatting cold symptoms anyone?) and bet you have, too.

We’re running a contest to see who has the funniest home remedy. At the end of November, we’ll narrow it down to the top three and you can vote for the winner online!

At PKIDs, some of our personal home remedy stories include:

Whiskey, honey and lemon (from Trish):

When I was in my 20s, I had a cough that lasted for months and almost turned me inside out. Yep, it was probably whooping cough.

I had no insurance and couldn’t afford to go to the doctor, so my mom told me about a cough remedy they used when she was growing up in Oklahoma: hot water, honey, lemon and whiskey.

Mix it all together and sip it and eventually, you stop coughing (or at least you stop noticing that you’re coughing).

I sat, I sipped, I mixed, then mixed some more. I ran into walls, giggled when I fell down, and could not figure out what was wrong with me! I wasn’t thinking “big ole alcoholic drink” I was thinking “medicine.”

The next day, every time I coughed, my head felt like it was going to split open. Thanks, mom.

Drink orange juice upside down (from Rachael):

When I was a kid, I used to hiccup regularly. Once I made the mistake of hiccupping around grandma, who immediately ran to the kitchen and fetched a glass of orange juice. “Bend over, honey! And drink this upside down. Your hiccups will go away.”

Well the hiccups did go away, after the searing sinus pain of citrus burned my nostrils beyond recognition…

Smothering a fever (from Laura):

For my grandmother, the first plan of defense for any fever was to make yourself even more feverish! So at the first sign of a fever, she would wrap us grandkids in mountains of blankets until everything down to the mattress was soaked with sweat.

Do you have funny tales to tell of your family’s attempts to self-medicate? Email them to us or put them in the comments section of the blog, or post them on our Facebook page.

We’ll track this on our Facebook page and post the top three there for you to vote on. Winner gets a prize!

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When I had an earache as a kid, my mom would blow cigarette smoke in my ear to cure it.

She also used something called Sweet Oil, which she got at the drugstore, if the cigarette smoke trick didn’t work. A couple of drops of Sweet Oil was supposed to cure earache.

Also, for boils she would crack open an egg, take the little white part out of the egg (is it the undeveloped chicken embryo?), put it on the boil, then cover that with a bandage. That was supposed to draw the boil to a head, so it could then be squeezed.

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The information on PKIDs' Blog is for educational purposes only and should not be considered to be medical advice. It is not meant to replace the advice of the physician who cares for you or your child. All medical advice and information should be considered to be incomplete without a physical exam, which is not possible without a visit to your doctor.